Search This Blog

Trucker goes to prison for running red light, causing death

A Stafford, Virginia circuit court judge has sentenced James Edgar Smith of Gwynn, to five years in prison for causing the death of Susan Lee Haines, 57, when he ran a red light and crashed into her vehicle on Route 17 on Feb. 2, 2009. Smith was previously convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Smith’s tractor-trailer was reportedly loaded with sand, weighed 83,000 pounds and was without left front brakes and faulty right front brakes when he ran the red light, according to police reports.

Due to state sentencing guidelines, Smith will only have to serve three months of the five-year sentence.

Susan Haines and her husband had been married 30 years. She had a masters degree in Ornithology and served in the Save Crows Nest and Audubon Society. For the last six years, she worked as a water quality monitor at the headwaters of Aquia Creek, which is a constructed wetlands--a tributary of the tidal segment of the Potomac River located in Northern Virginia.

Cara Luther, the truck accident attorney representing Mr. Haines stated, “If the police reports that Mr. Edgar drove his 83,000 pound truck without proper brakes are true, the reported sentence he will serve would seem very lenient for his actions that so recklessly and completely disregarded public safety.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Six people died on May 13, 2019, in a collision between two
floatplanes in Alaska that has safety experts cautioning passengers about small
aircraft. Alaska has been the site of three fatal small plane crashes in just
over one week, in addition to several across the US in recent months, highlighting
the many safety issues concerning small planes. Experts say the problem
lies in having fewer regulations over smaller, privately owned aircraft
compared with commercial airlines. Floatplanes Carrying Tourists
Both floatplanes involved in the collision carried tourists
from a Princess Cruises ship on a stopover in Ketchikan, Alaska. One of the
companies offered an excursion sold through Princess Cruises, while the other
was independently provided. The tourists were being taken to Ketchikan from the
Misty Fjords National Monument area at around 12:21 pm local time when the two
small planes—both float-equipped—collided at approximately 3,350 feet.
Bodies of 2 missing after Alaska float plane…

Hundreds of
passengers aboard a Viking Ocean Cruises ship experienced a dramatic rescue by
helicopter, with several later hospitalized, when the Viking Sky suffered
engine failure in the middle of incredibly stormy seas. Passengers told
reporters about their harrowing ordeals, either of being airlifted off the
listing ship in the darkness or remaining onboard and praying the vessel did
not sink. Officials are now questioning why the ship was in the sea at all,
given warnings about stormy weather, and how multiple engines failed at the
same time. Given the
number of people onboard the Viking Sky when its engines failed, it is
incredibly lucky that there were not more severe injuries, a common concern in boating accidents. What
Happened on the Viking Sky? On March
14, the Viking Sky cruise ship began a 12-day voyage from the city of Bergen,
in Norway. After it left the city of Tromso, on its way to Stavanger, the
ship's four engines shut down as the vessel encountered a massive storm…